Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-04-27
THE HOME OF BUDDIIA.
STRANGE SCENES IN THE ANCIENT
CITY OF BeNARES.

Worsbipers Bathing Together in the
Sacred Waters of the Ganses The
Bathing Ghats-The Funeral Pyre--Tbe
Priests aud Devotees.
About 500 miles from its mouth on the left
bank of the Ganges, the great sacred river of
the Hindu people, to propitiate which only a
few years ago mothers were wont to offer up
their babes, is the city of idols and the home
of idolatry, Benares. 1t is to the Hindu
what Mecca is to the Mohammedan, and a
pilgrimage to it sometime during his life is the
necessary journey of every true Indian pagan.
Though there are no historical records to
prove it, it is generally conceded that it is one
of the, if not the most ancient city in the
world, and that even when Rome was found
ing Benares was centuries old
1t is most peculiarly native in its streets, its
buildings and its inhabitants and, of all
places in India, it is the place to see the abo-
riginnl habits, customs and people. 1t num-
beis It's temples in the thousands but its
shrnes are so many that no attempt is made
to number them. The sacred monkey runs
up and down the walls and over the affairs of
the temple of Durga kund and the sacred
bulls and cows wander about that of Anna
para and feed on the garlands that the
w1rshlpers cast before them. Just outside
the city is the spot made sacred by Buddha's
presence, and the tanks in which he bathed
himself, his garments. and his religious YES
selS, said to have been protected from the CON
tamination OF man by fiery dragons Benares
is the religious scat of India, and might not
inappropriately be called the capital of
heaUneniSm.
BENAREs' BATHING CHATS
But notwithstanding its many temples and
shrines with their wonderful Carvings, its
little narrow streets and lofty buildings, its
curious bazaars by far the most interesting
part OF Benafes are the bathing CHATS as seen
from boat sailing up and down the sacred
Ganges. Here one can spend hours and not
tire, for there Is q panorama as changing a
Kaleidoscope, and whose pictures are as bril-
liant an artists imagination can paint
them. for every day large proportion of the
inhabitants high caste and low, go down to
the river to bathe in and to worship the divine
stream as it goes rolling on its way to the
ocean. and the banks lined and the water
filled with men, women and children are
sight never 20 be forgotten.
Here an old, gray haired man feebly washes
his Shruukcn legs and arms in the cleansing
nhu diN me water Al MS side stands young
| iilh,'u matron, whose wet garment cllnGs to
ter body and show perfectly her well formed
limbs. hindu dainty, almost naked, sits
| only few feat away on the bank combing his
long, oily locks and admiring himself in a
Hrtle mirror, which he holds in one hand. A
:.fbIatIp lp1lriucr man far
away swinging with all his might pair of
primitive Indian clubs, while poor old hag
| comes out Of the cold water and exposes her
| "IJhered hreast to the warm rays OF the sun.
Little boys and girls run into the water,
splash about, and then run out again and roll
their wet bodle3 IN the dust or lie down upon
! the warm sto:.e steps that lead down to the
water. ua the top step sits motionless q
chubby infant whose mother has washed him
/ and SGT him up there To dry.
DARK HUED APHR0DITE.
A young girl walks trIppingly down to the
edge of the water and daintiy puts her well
shaped foot, the toes of which are perhaps
covered, though not adorned with rings, into
the water as though to feel its temperature,
and then suddenly draws it out as If it turned
out to be a hCtle cold But at last she plunges
| boldly in, and that wonderful river that has
witnessed more sacrifices or murders than
any other body OF water in the world re
celves her beneath its surface, above which a
| second later she emerges like young mer-
maid and, lite tie dark hued AphrodIte,
shakes the drops oil water from her halr
Down the hant come -FOUR men carrying on
stretcher dead body, with only cloth
| thrown over 1t, so thin that through 1t can he
seen distinctly the outlines OF the corpse
They pie up wood, place The corpse upon 1t,
pile on more wood, and after few nu'tered
words light the funeral pyre, while the friends